A bottle deposit bill pushed by a Salida middle school died in committee but not before a Republican lawmaker infuriated the Democratic sponsor with his comments.

That sort of thing isn’t unusual at the Capitol, but it’s what happened afterward that was interesting: The next day some Democrats defended the Republican who made the comments.

Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, worked with Crest Academy on the bottle bill, and students traveled from Salida last week to testify in behalf of House Bill 1247. It wasn’t expected to pass, and it didn’t but not before Rep. Mark Waller’s comments took Pabon and others by surprise.

“Rep. Pabon, I’ll give you this. You’ve raised my rancor in a way it hasn’t been raised so far this session,” said Waller, R-Colorado Springs. “I am incredibly disappointed that we would bring Colorado school children down to our state Capitol and them in such a way they were used today.”

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.